As the 2016 presidential race enters the final stretch, Hillary Clinton has been tasked to defend her family’s Clinton Foundation after accusations that the non-profit has some very serious conflicts of interest. Despite worries that certain ties to the Clinton Foundation may hurt her chances at becoming president, Hillary said in an MSNBC interview with Morning Joe that that was not the case and she is not worried.
“I am sure because I have a very strong foundation of understanding about the foundation,” Clinton said in the Morning Joe interview , via USA Today . “The kind of work that the foundation has done, which attracted donors from around the world, is work that went right into providing services to people.”
Dem Senate candidate: Clinton Foundation should “probably” shut down if Hillary is elected https://t.co/EE1k33he3g pic.twitter.com/eIWf6l3qrD
— The Hill (@thehill) August 26, 2016
Hillary Clinton said during the interview that she has not taken any money from the foundation. To that effect, she also claims that Bill and Chelsea Clinton have also not been paid for their involvement in the non-profit. She also said there would be no more email revelations even though Wikileaks hacktivists have promised quite the opposite.
Clinton also defended her time as Secretary of State amid accusations that she used the Clinton Foundation to construct a “pay to play” political environment where those who wanted help from the United States were forced to make contributions to the foundation in order to receive special favors. Previously, there have been claims that Clinton was receiving cash contributions to the Clinton Foundations in the millions before agreeing to help government and military operations abroad.
“My work as secretary of State was not influenced by any outside forces. I made policy decisions based on what I thought was right to keep Americans safe and protect our interests abroad,” Clinton said. “I believe my aides also acted appropriately. And we have gone above and beyond most of the charities that I understand, beyond the legal requirements, beyond standards, to voluntarily disclose donors, and also to reduce sources of funding that raised any questions, not that we thought they were necessarily legitimate, but to avoid those questions.”
Debate: Is foundation a problem for Clinton? https://t.co/2GKCHvS9hs via @Newsday
— Kilroy, WH (@WhKilroy) August 26, 2016
Accusations have been made about the Clinton Foundation and some of the more questionable donors by Donald Trump on the campaign trail, as well as by progressives who are not pleased with Hillary Clinton’s democratic nomination.
According to Newsmax, there are several watchdog groups who have also warned that a Clinton Foundation scandal could be detrimental to her presidential run.
“The Clinton Foundation has posed a very serious conflict of interest for the entire time that it’s existed,” Craig Holman, government affairs lobbyist at Public Citizen told The Hill . “The conflicts of interest are very real, and that gives Trump some ammunition to throw at it, and we’re going to hear about it.”
While Holman believes that Hillary Clinton started to make things right by recently vowing to stop foreign and corporate donations to the Clinton Foundation if she is elected president, this isn’t enough. He and many other critics of the foundation have called for Hillary and the rest of her family to completely cut ties with the non-profit. That includes removing Chelsea Clinton from the board, which she recently said she would not do.
The AP’s big “exposé” on Hillary meeting w/ Clinton Foundation donors is a mess, i.e. NO #PayForPlay https://t.co/nWOGvKuGbA via @voxdotcom
— Maria Morrissey (@mamaria33) August 26, 2016
Hillary Clinton has been accused previously of using the Clinton Foundation to raise funds for her presidential campaign, thus skirting election fundraising rules. Additionally, the foundation has been accused of receiving donations from foreign donors prior to the U.S. signing weapons agreements while Hillary was the Secretary of State.
Despite Clinton’s assurance that no new information about her email scandal from Wikileaks would be coming out, hacktivist founder Julian Assange has said that there will be more releases. On top of that, the Inquisitr previously reported that an “ October Surprise ” from Wikileaks would be dropped.
It is believed the information contained in those emails will be so damaging to Hillary Clinton’s campaign that it could cost her the presidency. Many believe those emails will tie the Clinton Foundation to foreign contributions proving the “pay to play” theories and ruining Clinton’s credibility in the days leading up to the November election.
[Photo by Jeff Swenson/Getty Images]